The Dervish Stone
The Dervish Stone is a single-player role-playing mini adventure written by Paul Struth, and illustrated by Tim Sell. It was published in 1985 in Warlock Issue 4 by Puffin Books. It has not been reprinted since. Creation The Dervish Stone was the winning entry of the "Adventure Competition" run in Warlock issue 1: - p.50}} Background - p.25}} How to Fight Creatures of the Desert The mini adventure in general follows the original rules set down in ''The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (see Game System). Unique Rules While a player has only one Potion, it contains two doses. Equipment List1 *Sword *Leather Armour *Backpack *5 Provisions *20 Gold Pieces2 *Choice of one of three Potions (see Game System for generic fantasy setting choices) NOTES #Although not mentioned in the "Rules" section, later paragraphs indicate that the player also has a lantern. #These are mentioned in the Rules and in (1), but presumably are the same 20 Gold Pieces and that (1) does not mean an additional 20. Illustrations The illustrations were by Tim Sell. There were 14 full page (or equivalent) illustrations and 6 minor repeated illustrations scattered throughout the text. The paragraphs with a full page illustration were: Title card, 14, 23, 42, 61, 77, 85, 127, 136, 143, 162, 179, 197 and 200. Additionally, one piece of text - a letter from Jokar - was presented in a drawing of a piece of parchment (1). The cover for that issue of Warlock, by Alan Craddock, also belongs to the adventure, depicting Goblins riding a flying Griffin. Intertextual References Main Characters YOU: Hero of The Dervish Stone *Gumpas - Sorcerer-Governor of Alasiyan *Hermit of the Hills *Jokar One-Eye *Kuperan - Fire Giant/"Monarch of the Sands" Locations *Alasiyan *''Den of Thieves'' *Lost Cave of the Dervishes *''The One Safe Wall'' *Twin Sun Desert *Valley of Diamonds Encounters *Bronze Golem *Bugbear Guards *Crab Spiders *Fire Giant *Giant Hawk *Giant Roc *Gnoll *Goblins *Hobgoblins - Guards/Regular *Humans - Dervish/Nomads/Nomad Trader/Town Guards *Lauper War-Cats *Laupers *Lizard-Men *Night Ghoul *Orc *Rock Toad *Snakes *Sorcerer-Governor *Thoul Further Notes *The adventure contains many references, especially some dialogue from the cantina in (118). *Translated into French in issue 7 of Piranha as La Pierre de Shanhara. *Translated into Japanese in issue 2 of the Japanese version of Warlock as デルビッシュの洞窟. *Translated into Hungarian in issue 1 of Kaland Játék Kockázat as A dervis köve. Errors *(158) awards a luck bonus when you couldn't have lost any. *(110) and (139) award skill bonuses when you couldn't have lost any. *It is assumed that (50) means the Wizard's Eye item is lost; that by "point" at (87) means "stamina point"; that 160 means stamina instead of skill; that if you don't have enough money to pay in (71) you should get neither the potion nor the luck point; and that (162) should read skill in both places. *(27) says you "get out and continue", then sends you to a section where you must make a roll in order to get out. *The Nomads give you a hint in (103) and (181), but not in (53) which is the "best" outcome of that encounter. *You always have the Boots of Leaping in (29) and (155), and it's extremely unlikely you wouldn't have them in (48), meaning about a dozen paragraphs are useless as the player would never turn to them in the course of the game. See Also *''Queen of Shades'' *''Warlock'' Reviews *[https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/fighting_fantasy_gamebooks/conversations/messages/3081 Per Jorner reviews The Dervish Stone at the group] fighting_fantasy_gamebooks - Retrieved 2014-09-29 External Links *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=11 Fighting Fantasy at Gamebooks.org] - Retrieved 2014-09-29 *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=1051 The Dervish Stone at Gamebooks.org] - Retrieved 2014-09-29 *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=156 Warlock at Gamebooks.org] - Retrieved 2014-09-29 *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=1050 Warlock #4 at Gamebooks.org] - Retrieved 2014-09-29 References Category:Dervish Stone Entries Category:Mini-Adventures Category:Warlock Magazine Entries